Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester

Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester (24 June 1532-4 September 1588) was an English nobleman and the favorite and lover of Queen Elizabeth I of England, having been a suitor for her hand for many years.

Biography
Robert Dudley was the son of John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland and the brother of Lord Guildford Dudley, and his father and brother were executed for treason in 1554 after backing a Protestant rebellion against Queen Mary I of England. Robert took part in the 1557 Battle of St. Quentin under King Philip II of Spain, which led to his full rehabilitation. On Elizabeth I of England's accession to the throne in November 1558, he was appointed Master of the Horse, and he became a Privy Councillor in October 1562, Earl of Leicester in 1564, and Lord Steward of the Royal Household in 1587.

Dudley was one of Elizabeth's leading statesmen, involved in domestic and foreign affairs along with William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley and Francis Walsingham. Although he refused to marry Mary, Queen of Scots, he was sympathetic to her until 1587, when he advocated for her execution after she plotted against the Queen. He was also patron of the Puritan movement, supporting non-conforming preachers and mediating between them and the Church of England. From 1585 to 1587, he commanded an English expedition to the Spanish Netherlands to support the Dutch Revolt, but the expedition was a military and political failure, and it ruined the Earl financially. He later backed Francis Drake and other explorers and privateers, and he commanded the English land forces at the time of the Spanish Armada. Dudley was despised for his private life, having allegedly pushed his first wife down a staircase in order to be able to wed Queen Elizabeth (which he was never able to), and having married a woman after 18 years of being available for Elizabeth; this wife was expelled from court. Dudley died in Cornbury, Oxfordshire in 1588.